By Emma Whitford

The acquisition would expand the system’s online revenue stream and provide it with another defense against revenue shortfalls and budget cuts, said Michael Horn, cofounder of the Clayton Christensen Institute, a nonprofit think tank. Grantham’s available credentials also align with common careers in the state.

“It struck me as very targeted around particular areas of career focus that are probably of need within the state,” Horn said. “I suspect that the other thing that was exciting for them was that it probably aligned with areas where they knew that there would be demand.

Arkansas’s acquisition of Grantham differs from some of the other high-profile for-profit acquisitions in recent years. Purdue University’s purchase of the online giant Kaplan University in 2017 raised eyebrows because it allowed Kaplan, Inc. — the university’s former owner — to continue to operate non-academic facets of the university and included a revenue-sharing agreement between the company and Purdue.